Preheater

[Brad W Wi]

I'm wondering if anyone has done this? I'm thinking of a pre heater that would just be coiled tubing on the inside of the stack from the hood. It would just line the stack I'm thinking 12"stack. It would have to be copper or one of the soft stainless tubing. ( Mc Masters catalog has it) I'd have to figure some way to fasten it to the stack. I know there are some half moon clips made to hold them. I'm wondering if anyone has done it or just some feed back on it.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Brad,

I think it is a great idea and would work fine. I have always wondered why others didn't try it more. The most important thing would be to make sure you have some type of drip pan below the bottom of the stack a few inches and larger than the stack as there is going to be a lot of condensation running back down the stack or you could have aproximately a 1 inch channel running all around the bottom of the stack. The only problem with that is it is going to change the size of the stack from 12 inches to 10 inches.

Might want to put a damper above the preheater also which you may or may not need depending on how much you coil inside. An old sugarmaker who helped me a lot over the years and I still talk to all the time put a channel next to the bottom of his stack and caught all the condensation that ran back down his stack and sold it as distilled water. :)

[brookledge]

On thing to remember is the larger your evaporator the larger your feed line needs to be. With your 2X8 you probably have about 1" feed so keep that in mind. If and when your evaporator is calling for sap and needs it fast, a long coil of 1/2 copper tubing is not going to flow fast enough from burning your syrup pan.
Keith

[Brad W Wi]

Westvirginia, I had already considered the channel along the bottom. I don't have running water and I figured to collect water for cleaning up the place. I'm wondering if there is vent pipe larger than 12"? I'll have to check it out

Brookledge, I hadn't given a thought to the size of line feeding the unit. Good point, now the question of weight hanging in the vent pipe comes into play. I'll have to have enough to have the sap heated, but with a 1" line it might be too heavy to be supported in the vent. I'll be working on the setup this comming summer, I don't have enough time for this season. Send me any suggestions.
Thank you,
Brad W Wi

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Brad,

12" is probably as big as you are possibly going to be able to get on a 2' evaporator hood. I have 10" and that is pushing it. You shoud be fine with using 1/2" or 3/4" pipe, but keep a bucket of sap at arms reach just in case of urgent need. If you can find 3/4" copper tubing, that should be plenty sufficient as I would run around 8 to 10 gph with proper head pressure.

[maple flats]

And if you are getting towards the end of the sap you have keep a bucket of the condensate water you have collected to dump in if needed. You can always boil it back out but if you don't dump it in when needed you will likely need to toss everything and maybe fix or replace the evap pan or pans.

[Sugarmaker]

Really cant see why this wouldn't work. Would the cold sap feed in the top? and hot sap out the bottom? How high would the pipes need to be 4-5 feet?
Would it need to be a coil or just vertical straight tubes filled with sap? They would get heavy. Pipe would get heavy but I have that solved. Just put a winch on to lift and support the weight. Seems the feed tank would need to be higher than the feed port on the top of the tubes. or else pump the sap up there? Would need a condensate tray under the steam pipe. Ye this might work???

Humm?
CEC

[gmcooper]

Why not go with some type of steam hood and preheater instead of trying to use the stack. Loads of people have tried this route and most have given up. There are so many variables with sap flow rates and changes in flow. The potential for disaster in high. I'm certainly in favor of trying new things and expirimenting but on this issue with all the ideas the equipment companies come up with this would have been on the market if they could ever get one to work all the time. Even some of the stuff they do sell doesn't work all that well.